At five feet tall, freshman guard Katherin Franco is one of the shortest athletes on the women’s basketball team at College of the Canyons. Despite her height, she plays a key role in the cougars’ backcourt, using her speed to move the ball and create plays during games.
In games, she brings the ball up and helps run the offense. Franco says her height changes how other teams guard her.
“I think people expect me to, like, I don’t know, get blocked all the time. I get that a lot. People are assuming you’re going to get blocked, and it’s like, ‘oh,'” said Franco, a basketball player for the COC’s women’s team.
“Just in general, I feel like I’m underestimated in a lot of things, because obviously height really helps with everything,” Franco said.
Franco has participated in basketball since childhood and says her experience contributes to how she approaches match-ups against older or taller players.
“I’ve been playing basketball my whole life, so I feel like I just find comfort in it. You know, obviously, it also affects me when I’m doing bad, because then I get in my head. But once I start doing good defensively, it translates into my offense,” Franco said.
“And so, I know that if I’m doing bad offensively, I can always up it up on defense and get that back,” Franco said.
Katherine moves quickly on the court and can play for long stretches. She stays low, making it harder for opponents to get past her, and she practices often.
“Once again, she can get under things. She can get low, and basketball is a game of physics, of leverage, of getting under your opponent and lowering the opponent. And she most definitely gets lower than other people, and it makes it hard to play both offensively and defensively against her,” said Robin Ester, the head coach for the COC’s women’s basketball team.
Franco will keep playing in the backcourt as the season continues, helping with offense and defense while gaining more experience with the team.
